Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

What does the Presence control actually do?


alhbass
 Share

Recommended Posts

As per the title. I'm wondering about the Sansamp BDDI in particular, as that's what I have - but throwing the question out there regarding Presence controls in general.

I mean, I can hear the difference right enough when I adjust it, but just wanted to know what parameter is actually being altered by it, and what specifically is it intended to acheive? It more or less just seems like an additional treble control to me...

Love to hear the BC wisdom, so please feel free to share your knowledge...

Cheers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1413642368' post='2580468']
Wouldn't the upper harmonics be handled by the 'treble' control though?
[/quote]

To an extent, but my understanding of this, and I'm no expert, is that usually the Presence control won't be as interactive as a treble control is on the mids and lows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='alhbass' timestamp='1413645141' post='2580499']
What is it meant to do?
[/quote]

Depends what you mean by 'meant to do'. Electronically, it will affect the boost and cut (making louder or quieter) of various frequencies, the exact ones will depend on the precise circuit design but they will tend to be the ones in the 'middle', which could be quite a wide range but is basically the ones higher than the bass and lower than the treble.

Audibly, it adds another control for the user to twiddle until they get the sound they like best, just like the bass and treble controls, which are not 'meant' to be adjusted to any particular settings as such, they are just a way of giving the user control over the sound according to their preferences.

Very simplistically, if you like to hear more bass you turn up the bass control and if you like more 'zing' on the cymbals you increase the treble ( and vice versa of course). If you like to hear more of the singer or the solo instruments then you could turn up the 'presence' control. In practice it's just another control to play with until you get the sound you like best - no real rules as such, though some results will be more widely liked than others . . . But then that applies to music as a whole really!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1413647320' post='2580536']
Does this thread help any?

[url="http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1160761"]http://www.thegearpa...d.php?t=1160761[/url]
[/quote]

Yes, more so than the others - thank you.

So my impression has always been (with the Sans Amp BDDI anyway) that it's the very high frequencies that are effected (as some of these comments suggest) rather than the high mids.

Still not clear about what the practical significance is of the treble being in the pre-amp and the Presence being in the power section though. Or precisely what a feedback loop is (in this context). Guess I need to do some more Googling....

Thanks to you all anyway. Cheers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I understand it, speech intelligibility is covered by approx' 400 - 3400Hz, the telephone bandwidth - so 'dial-a-disc' was always going to sound crap, (age showing).

To give a singing voice clarity, particular frequencies are given a little emphasis. These are usually around 3 - 5 kHz.

They identify a particular voice.

So, Danny Hutton from 3 Dog Night sounds different to Tom Jones when singing the same words in 'Mamma Told Me Not To Come' because their vocal bits & pieces have different dimensions & they use them differently, (speech experts have strange names for how our vocal mechanics work).

These frequencies help emphasise the nuances/distinctive character of the singers voice & "place" the vocal in front of or above the backing instruments.

I think an engineer would do this with EQ & a presence control just picks out those frequencies without us having to know precisely which ones they are.

This is only my understanding & I'm just a keen amateur so others may correct me.

Edited by grandad
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Obviously there's no power amp to consider in a BDDI, so the implementation of a presence control in the feedback loop of a power amp doesn't help in this case. As far as the audible effect is concerned, I've never used a BDDI but do have a BDI-21 - supposedly a copy of the BDDI - and its presence control does seem to operate on a higher frequency range than the treble control.

Edited by dincz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='alhbass' timestamp='1413645141' post='2580499']
Thank you for your contributions so far. But i must say i'm absolutely none the wiser. Can't make head or tail of the Wiki article, and everyone else seems to be as vague as I am...

What is it meant to do?
[/quote]

All the Wikipedia page really says is that Presence is an upper-mid / high frequency boost.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the BDDI the presence works as a shelving treble control whilst also cutting the bass. http://www.talkbass.com/threads/semi-scientific-sansamp-bddi-analysis.394187/page-2#post-5129983

The images are long gone from that thread, but you can get the idea. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...